Printed in red and blue; printed area, including double-rule border, measures 21.8 x 13.0 cm., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War.
Date
[1861]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare sm # Am 1861 Liberty (2)5786.F.176a (McAllister)
Egraving accompanies a fictional episode described in Chapter XIV, "Isabel's Winter." It features Uncle Peter, a former slave of the late Mr. Courtenay, an extremely kind master, whose family fell into dire poverty after his death. Although Uncle Peter has a new master, his ongoing affection for the members of the Courtenay family, who were struggling to feed themselves during a long winter, led him to secretly deposit two chickens inside their window., Illustration in Charles Peterson's The Cabin and Parlor: or, Slaves and Masters (Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson. Stereotyped by George Charles. Printed by King & Baird, c1852), p. 158., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Creator
Beeler, Charles H., engraver
Date
[1878]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare 2 Wright 1878a 10231.D p 158, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2655
Signed: Facundo Pino, President of the Council, J.M. Gallegos, Speaker of the House, Santa Fe, N.M. Jan. 29, 1862., Printed area measures 32.6 x 25.4; printed in 4 columns., Formerly part of a McAllister scrapbook., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War.
Creator
New Mexico, Legislative Assembly
Date
[Jan. 29, 1862]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare #Am 1862 Pino (2) 5786.F .149a
View of the city of Banza, or San Salvador, with the River Lelunda. According to the key, A represents the king's palace. The figures denoted by the letter B (lower right, on the river's edge) are slaves who collect water to supply to the city. The structures marked C are churches, and D is a citadel. E is a spring from which slaves collect fresh water., Folded illustration in Pieter van der Aa's La galerie agreable du monde, où l'on voit et un grand nombre de cartes tres-exactes et de belles tailles-douces, les principaux empires, roiaumes, republiques, provinces, villes, bourgs et forteresses . . . (Le tout mis en ordre & executé à Leide, par Pierre vander Aa [1729?]), n.p., In the absence of pagination, 50 has been written next to the plate., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
Date
[1729?]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare *U Gen Gal v 60-62 1729.F n.p. (50), https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2950
Bust-length portrait of an African American toddler, attired in a plaid top, as a representation of slavery and the cause of the Civil War., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1862, by E. Anthony, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the U.S. for the So. District of New-York., Publisher's imprint printed on verso. Includes image of publisher's building facade engraved by Snyder, Black & Sturn N.Y., Distributor's label pasted on verso: McAllister & Brother 728 Chestnut Street Philadelphia., Gift of David Long., Duplicate of carte-de-visite in a McAllister Scrapbook., See related carte de visite "Young Africa" (cdv - Misc. - Civil War Caricatures (5780.F.52e)], Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date
1862
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - photographer - Anthony [P.2002.5]
According to the caption, this domestic interior shows a Northern man who moved to the South and married into a slave-owning family. Seated at a lavish table, the man and his family enjoy the fruits of slave labor. Through the left-hand window, a slave is being whipped by an overseer. A few other slaves can be seen through the window on the right., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1839 (New York: Published for the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838), p. 23., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date
[1838]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1838 Ame Ant 16996.D.3 p 23, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2766
Signed and dated: Geo. M. Stroud. Philadelphia, Sept. 15, 1863., Printed area measures: 18.5 x 10.8 cm., Printed two to a sheet; Library Company copy (Accession no. (2) 5276.F .28b) uncut. PPL, Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War.
Creator
Stroud, George M. (George McDowell), 1795-1875
Date
[1863]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare sm # Am 1863 Str (2) 5276.F .28b, Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare sm # Am 1863 Str 70495.O.2
The painting is signed "S. Jennings Pinxt.1792" on a scroll in the lower right corner. The frame is original, made by the Philadelphia carver and gilder James Reynolds (c. 1736-1794)., LCP Minutes vol. 3, April 1, 1790, p. 195-197: "Extract of a Letter from Samuel Jennings, dated London January 12th, 1790. `My Dear Father. Having lately received Information that an Elegant Building is now erecting for the Philadelphia Library, an Idea immediately struck me, that if it would not be thought presumptuous, I should esteem myself very happy to have the honor of presenting a Painting to the Company that would be applicable to so noble, and useful an Institution, and which if agreeable to the Gentlemen who have the Directions of it, shall use my utmost exertion & abilities to make it acceptable; the great affection I retain for my native Country, will always be an inducement to me to contribute my mite towards the Encouragement of Arts and Sciences, hoping in due time, they will arrive to as great perfection as they are at present, in the place I now reside--- As I do not know who the Gentlemen are that have the direction of the Library, I request you will be so obliging as to communicate to them the Information I have given you, and if they should be pleased to approve of it, as I hope they will, it will be necessary for me to be acquainted with the length, breadth and height of the Room, together with the Situation they would wish to place in it, and if over the Fire-place, the distance from the Mantle-piece to the Ceiling-- You will perhaps think me too particular, but these are things essentially necessary--/As soon as I receive an answer from you with their approbation, which I hope will be by the first Packet from New York, or any other immediate opportunity, I shall put the piece into Execution., In regard to the subject, there are three, which I think would be applicable to the Institution vizt. Cleo - Goddess of History, and Heroic Poetry. Calliope - Goddess of Harmony, Rhetoric, & Heroic Poetry - Minerva- Goddess of Wisdom & all the Arts, The Presidentess of Learning, which seems to comprehend everything that can be desired.The dress of Minerva is grand, and would make a better picture than either of the others. But if my other Subject should be their choice, I shall with plesure, comply with it-' This handsome Compliment from one of our Fellow Citizens now in London, is gratefully received, and Mordecai Lewis, John Kaighn, Doctor Parke, Thomas Morris and Richard Wells, are appointed a Committee to prepare a Letter to go by the next Packet expressive of the high Sense which the Board entertain of the genteel proposal, and that the Committee take the subject of the picture into consideration, and transmit their opinion thereon-.", Vol. 3, May 6, 1790, p. 206-207: "The Committee appointed by the last board reported that they had transmitted a letter to Samuel Jennings in answer to his polite and liberal offer of a painting for this Institution which was read and ordered to be entered on the minutes--- `Phila. April 3, 1790, Esteemed Friend- The Directors of the Library Company of Philadelphia having been furnished with an extract of thy letter respecting a Piece of Painting intended for the Library they have instructed us to transmit their grateful acknowledgments for so genteel a notice of their Institution--To recieve such a proof of Attachment from one of their Fellow-Citizens, at so great a distance, must be truly pleasing to every Member of the Company, to whom the Directors will have an opportunity of communicating it, at their annual Election next month-/ The Board have considered the three Subjects submitted to their Choice, and readily agree in giving a preference to that of Minerva; but as a more general latitude has been so politely granted, they take the liberty of suggesting an Idea of Substituting the figure of Liberty/with her Cap and proper Insignia/displaying the arts by some of the most striking Symbols of Painting, Architecture, Mechanics, Astronomy etc, whilst She appears in the attitude of placing on the top of a Pedestal, a pile of books, lettered with, Agriculture, Commerce, Philosophy, & Catalogue of Philadelphia Library., A broken chain under her feet, and in the distant background a Groupe of Negroes sitting on the Earth, or in some attitude expressive of Ease & Joy -/ This is handed merely as a Sketch of what struck the Directors, but they have so much diffidence on Subjects of this nature, that they wish to submit the whole to thy own Judgment-/ We are on behalf of the Directors very respectfully Thy Friends. Signed by Richard Wells, Thomas Morris, Thomas Parke, John Kaighn'., Gift of Samuel Jennings, 1792., Exhibited in: Art Institute of Chicago's exhibition, From Colony to Nation (1949); Corcoran Gallery of Art's exhibition, American Processional (1950); Library Company and Historical Society of Pennsylvania's exhibtion, Negro History, 1553-1903 (1969); The National Portrait Gallery's exhibition, The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution, 1770-1800 (1973); Library Company and Historical Society of Pennsylvania's exhibtion, Women 1500-1900 (1974); Library Company's exhibition, Quarter of a Millennium (1981); Corcoran Gallery of Art's exhibition, Facing History, The Black Image in American Art, 1710-1940 (1990).
Parentheses substituted for square brackets in transcription., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook; MS. note: November 1864., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War.
Date
[1864]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare 2# Am 1864 New England (6)5777.F.51 (McAllister)
Engraving accompanies a fictional episode described in Letter XI, "The Marriage." Leaning over the staircase balustrade in the upper left, the story's narrator observes the scene taking place below, as does Cleopatra, an elderly slave, who watches from several steps down. In the center of the scene, mistress Rosalie forces the slaves Mima and Juniper to jump over a broomstick that stretches between two chairs. This is part of the forced marriage ceremony over which Rosalie presides. When the weeping Mima hesitates to jump, Rosalies boxes her ears with her slipper. In the background, another house-slave watches from behind a door., Plate in Emily C. Pearson's Cousin Franck's Household, or, Scenes in the Old Dominion (Boston: Upham, Ford, and Olmstead, 1853), p 168., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Creator
Hayes, George H., engraver
Date
[1853]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1853 Pear 73222.O p 168, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2793
Illustration accompanies Miss Harrintgon's (allegedly true) account of her capture by two blacks in the parish of Concordia, Louisiana in 1842. Miss Harrington (standing in the middle) was kidnapped by two black men, Enoch and Joseph (seen at right), who forced their way into her home and murdered her father, Noah Harrington. Thereafter, the two men entered the home of Mr. George Todd, whom they also killed, and then proceeded to take his wife and seven-month old infant into captivity. (Mother and child are seen at left). With a young mulatto girl named Nelly Predello in tow, the two men led Miss Harrington, Mrs. Eliza Todd, and her child into a swampy forest, where they were held for six weeks. As Miss Harrington's narrative emphasizes, Nelly had originally thought that she would be aiding the two men in some sort of simple escape attempt, and she was dismayed to discover the true nature of their murderous plot. In this scene, Nelly protects the two women from their captors. As Miss Harrington wrote, whenever Nelly felt their lives jeopardized, she "would drop on her knees and beg of the blacks to desist, and in the meantime assuring them, 'that if the lives of the two unfortunate captives were thus to be cowardly sacrificed, their bullets would have first to pass through her body, before she would willingly permit them to reach those of the unfortunate victims!'" Eventually, Nelly aided in the women's rescue by a group of white men., Frontispiece for Miss Harrington's Narrative of the Barbarous Treatment of Two Unfortunate Females (New York: Printed for the publishers, 1842)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
Date
[1842]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Harr 78297.O frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2776
Set in a lush grove on the bank of a river, lake, or pond, the vignette features a black man (presumably a slave), who helps a young white boy (most likely the son of his master) steady a fishing pole. The well-dressed boy sits on the knee of the barefoot slave., Vignette in a full-page advertisement for Sarah Hale's Northwood; or, Life North and South (New York: H. Long & Brother, 43 Ann-Street, [1852]), printed in The Literary World: a Gazette for Authors, Readers, and Publishers, edited by C.F. Hoffmann (New York: Osgood & Co., 1852), vol. 11, no. 299 (October 23, 1852), p. 272., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life
Creator
Orr, John William, 1815-1887, engraver
Date
[October 1852]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare *Per L 49.7 2478.Q v 11 n 299 p 272, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2883
Profile view of a half-kneeling slave figure facing right. His ankles and wrists are shackled and chained; his hands are clenched together and raised in an imploratory manner. The sparse background suggests a plantation setting., Title page vignette in Thomas Branagan's Penitential Tyrant (New York: Printed and sold by Samuel Wood, 1807)., Images in this work derived from oral testimony given before the British Parliament's Select Committee Appointed to Take the Examination of Witnesses Respecting the African Slave Trade originally published as An Abstract of the Evidence Delivered Before a Select Committee of the House of Commons in the Years 1790, and 1791; the Part of Petitioners for the Abolition of the Slave-Trade (London: printed by James Phillips, 1791). Images also issued in a number of other printed works including Remarks on the Methods of Procuring Slaves with a Short Account of Their Treatment in the West Indies (London: printd by and for Darton and Harvey, no. 66 Gracechurch Street, MDCCXCIII [1793]): Sclaven-Handel (Philadelphia: Gedruckt fur Tobias Hirte, bey Samuel Saur, 1794); Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender auf das Jahr 1797 (Baltimore: Samuel Saur, 1796); Injured Humanity: Being a Representation of What the Unhappy Children of Africa Endure from Those Who Call Themselves Christian... (New York: printed and sold by Samuel Wood, no. 362, Pearl Street, between 1805 and 1808); and The Mirror of Misery, or Tyranny Exposed (New York: printed and sold by Samuel Wood, 1807) and later editions issued in 1811 and 1814., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date
[1807]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1807 Bra 2721.D title page vignette, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2717
An allegorical figure representing Justice hovers over the figure of Britannia, who is seated on a throne with a slave kneeling and praying at her feet. Although the slave wears shackles around his wrists and ankles, it is unclear whether his chains have been broken or remain intact. Behind him, a mother and child gesture toward Britannia. Ostensible subject of the engraving is Britain's renounciation of slavery. It accompanies the following lines in Montgomery's poem: "Britannia, -- she who scathed the crest of Spain, / And won the trident sceptre of the main, / When to the raging wind, and ravening tide, / She gave the huge Armada's scatter'd pride, / Smit by the thunder-wielding hand that hurl'd / Her vengeance round the wave-encircled world; / -- She shared the gain, the glory, and the guilt, / By her were Slavery's island-altar's built, / And fed with human victims; -- till the cries / Of blood, demanding vengeance from the skies, / Pierced her proud heart, too long in vain assail'd; / But justice in one glorious hour prevail'd : / Straight from her limbs the tyrant's garb she tore, / Spotted with pestilence,and thick with gore; / O'er her own head with noble fury broke / The grinding fetters, and the galling yoke, / Then plunged them in th' abysses of the sea, / And cried to weeping Africa -- 'Be free!' (p. 19-20), Plate in James Montgomery's Abolition of the Slave Trade: A Poem, in Four Parts (London: Printed by T. Bensley, for R. Bower, the proprietor, 1814), p. 18., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Imagery.
Creator
Worthington, William Henry, ca. 1795-ca. 1839, engraver
Date
Dec. 1, 1809
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare *Am 1814 Mon 13197.Q p 18, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2720
Illustration depicts an episode that Du Chaillu witnessed during his stay in Cape Lopez (in the modern country of Gabon). As he wrote, "During my stay in the village, as I was one day out shooting birds in a grove not far from my house, I saw a procession of slaves coming from one of the barracoons toward the farther end of my grove. As the came nearer, I saw that two gangs of six slaves each, all chained about the neck, were carrying a burden between them, which I knew presently to be the corpse of another slave. They bore it to the edge of the grove, about three hundred yards from my house, and, throwing it down there on the bare ground, they returned to their prison, accompanied by the overseer, who, with his whip, had marched behind them." (p. 115), Plate in Paul Du Chaillu's Stories of the Gorilla Country: Narrated for Young People (New York: Harper & Brothers, publishers, Franklin Square, 1868), p. 108., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Date
[1868]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1868 Du Chail 17468.D p 108, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2819
Campaign broadside in support of Abraham Lincoln., Printed area measures 19.9 x 16.5 cm., Formerly part of a McAllister scrapbook., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War.
Date
[1864?]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare sm # Am 1864 To the Lab 5793.F .50c
Signatures: A-2E⁸ 2F²., "A journal of the life, Gospel labours, and Christian experiences of that faithful minister of Jesus Christ, John Woolman, late of Mount-Holly, in the province of New-Jersey."--[2], 250 p., has separate title page., "The works of John Woolman. Part the second. Containing his last epistle and other writings."--p. [251]-436, has separate title page, and includes: Some considerations on the keeping of negroes., Library Company copy 1118.O in original sheepskin binding; armorial bookplate: Levi Hollingsworth., Library Company copy 112571.O in original sheepskin binding; inscribed: Sarah Hopkins [and] B. Hopkins 1826; from the McNeil Americana Collection., Readex August 2013 update: This record replaces control number 000035738.
Creator
Woolman, John, 1720-1772
Date
[M.DCC.LXXIV. [1774]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1774 Woolm 1118.O (Maier), Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1774 Woolm 112571.O (McNeil)
Copyrighted by R. A. Dimmick., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook., Print commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation. Contains a portrait of Lincoln surounded by American flags and the American eagle; six vignettes within an ornamental border depicting the horror of Southern slavery and the industriousness of the free North; an allegorical scene contrasting the war savaged Confederacy with the proseprous Union; and the text of the proclamation
Creator
Roberts, William, b. ca. 1829, engraver., creator, Dimmick, R. A., copyright holder., creator
Date
c1864.
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia Print Dept. GC - Emancipation [5792.F.27]
Bust-length portrait of the Philadelphia lawyer, orator, dramatist, and a president of the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society. Brown, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, and a black jacket, sits facing slightly left., Title from manuscript note on mount., Date based on depicted age of the sitter., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date
[ca. 1861]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | PRINTS cdv portraits - sitter - Brown [(1)5750.F.59e]
Exterior view of the colonial residence built 1763-1767 by master carpenter Jacob Knor for Philadelphia attorney Benjamin Chew at 6401 Germantown Avenue. Shows the facade of the two-story stone building with a pediment over the front door, shuttered windows, and dormers and chimneys on the roof. Chew House, also known as Cliveden, was the site of the turning point in the Battle of Germantown in 1777. The Chew family enslaved people of African descent in the city of Philadelphia and in Germantown during the 18th and 19th centuries. The estate was the Chew family residence until 1972 when it was acquired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation., Time: 12:30, Light: Fair, no sun., The negative is very light and has faded to a light yellow., Purchase 2001., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Digitization and cataloging has been made possible through the generosity of David Marriott Morris, Eleanor Rhoads Morris Cox, and William Perot Morris in memory of Marriott Canby Morris and his children: Elliston Perot Morris, Marriott Canby Morris Jr., and Janet Morris and in acknowledgment of his grandchildren: William Perot Morris, Eleanor Rhoads Morris Cox, Jonathan White Morris, and David Marriott Morris., Edited.
Creator
Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer
Date
April 19, 1884
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Marriott C. Morris Collection [P.9895.244]
Exterior view of the colonial residence built 1763-1767 by master carpenter Jacob Knor for Philadelphia attorney Benjamin Chew at 6401 Germantown Avenue. Shows the facade of the two-story stone building with a pediment over the front door, shuttered windows, and dormers and chimneys on the roof. In the foreground, the walkway leads to the house. On the grounds are two sculptures, a portrait bust on a pedestal and a classical female nude without a head and arms. Chew House, also known as Cliveden, was the site of the turning point in the Battle of Germantown in 1777. The Chew family enslaved people of African descent in the city of Philadelphia and in Germantown during the 18th and 19th centuries. The estate was the Chew family residence until 1972 when it was acquired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation., Time: 11:40, Light: Good sun., Purchase 2001., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Digitization and cataloging has been made possible through the generosity of David Marriott Morris, Eleanor Rhoads Morris Cox, and William Perot Morris in memory of Marriott Canby Morris and his children: Elliston Perot Morris, Marriott Canby Morris Jr., and Janet Morris and in acknowledgment of his grandchildren: William Perot Morris, Eleanor Rhoads Morris Cox, Jonathan White Morris, and David Marriott Morris., Edited.
Creator
Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer
Date
April 25, 1890
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Marriott C. Morris Collection [*P.9895.1522]
Engraving accompanies a fictional episode described in Letter IV, "The 'Purchases' -- Old Joseph." Episode takes place on Christmas Eve in the cabin of the coachman Rafe, the slave seated on the log near the fireplace to the extreme right. Rafe has learned that he will soon be sold, and thus separated from his wife, who sits to his right, and their young child, who rests on her lap. Other slaves cluster around the couple, trying to comfort them. Leaning on his walking stick, Old Joseph (described as "the beau ideal of a patriarch, at once humble, dignified and venerable") stands and faces the group, offering words of wisdom and consolation. Interior is furnished with a bench, a chest of drawers, a large chair, and stools of varying sizes. The men's discarded top hats are placed throughout the room, as are assorted utilitarian and domestic objects, such as pots and pans, an umbrella, and an axe. In the foreground, a book, quite possibly the Bible, rests on a stool., Frontispiece for Emily C. Pearson's Cousin Franck's Household, or, Scenes in the Old Dominion (Boston: Upham, Ford, and Olmstead, 1853)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Creator
Hedge, Franklin, b. ca. 1830, engraver
Date
[1853]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1853 Pear 73222.O frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2792
Image relates to an episode that Captain John Stedman witnessed during his travels in Surinam, and went on to describe in his text, Narrative, of a five year's expedition against the revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the wild coast of South America; from the year 1772 to 1777 (London: Printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church Yard, & J. Edwards, Pall Mall, 1796). In the corresponding passage, Stedman described how a beautiful Samboe girl of about eighteen was tied by both arms to a tree limb and flagellated by two overseers in such a manner that "she was from her neck to her ancles [sic] literally dyed over with blood." When Stedman arrived on the scene, the girl had already received 200 lashes, and he begged one of the overseers to let her down. At this point, the overseer explained that, in order to prevent strangers from interfering with his government, he had made an unalterable rule to double any slave's punishment when a stranger tried to intervene on his or her behalf. To Stedman's utter dismay, the girl thus received another 200 lashes. Stedman's own 1796 text included an illustration of this terrible episode: an engraving done by William Blake after one of Stedman's drawings. Like Blake's engraving, the 1809 aquatint shows the two black overseers who carried out the girl's punishment, the planter who presumably ordered it, and the slave girl herself. The aquatint, however, differs substantially in style, composition, and interpretation., Folded frontispiece for the Curious Adventures of Captain Stedman, during an expedition to Surinam in 1773 (London: Printed for Thomas Tegg [1809])., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
Date
[1809]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1809 Cur 68448.D frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2718
Illustration shows seven male slaves in tattered clothing who are chained together by shackles around their necks. Holding shovels and other tools, they set off to work in a field., Illustration in the American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838 (Boston: Published by D.K. Hitchcock, 1837), p. 21., Caption underneath the image reads: "The slaves are sometimes chained together when they go to work in the fields, lest their love of liberty should induce them to make violent efforts to escape.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date
[1837]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Ame Ant 52047.D.2 p 21, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2754
Engraving depicts an incident that is said to have occurred near the Maryland state line on December 25, 1855. As the accompanying narrative suggests, six slaves from Virginia's Loudoun and Fauquier counties (Barnaby Grigby, his wife, Mary Elizabeth Grigby, Frank Wanzer, Emily Foster, and two others) had taken their master's horses and carriage, and were on their way to freedom. Near the Cheat River in Maryland, they were attacked by "six white men and a boy," who demanded their passes, and then ordered their surrender. The fugitives retaliated, and the four travelling in the carriage made a successful escape. Two others on horseback were assumed to have been captured., Illustration in William Still's Underground Rail Road: a record of facts, authentic narratives, letters, &c. (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872), p. 124., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
Creator
Reed, C. H., engraver
Date
[1872]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1872 Still 19214.O p 124, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2823
Image is accompanied by a verse, which begins as follows: "X Stands for Cross. By the lusts of the flesh / Men open the wounds of the Saviour afresh, /." In the foreground of a wooded landscape, an overseer / slaveowner flogs the back of a male slave whose wrists are shackled and chained to a tree trunk. On a hill in the background, a Christ-figure hangs on a cross., Illustration in Abel C. Thomas's Gospel of Slavery (New York: Published by T.W. Strong, 1864), n.p., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date
[1864]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1864 Thoma 50969.D vignette X, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2818
Image is accompanied by a verse, which begins as follows: "W Stands for Woman. In Slavery-life, / Full many are mothers, but no one is wife./." The presence of an auctioneer in the background suggests that the setting is a slave auction. In the foreground, a slaveowner whips the bare back of a female slave. The woman kneels on the ground; her hands are raised over her head, and her wrists are fastened to a post. To the right, another slaveowner leads away a small child, presumably that of the woman., Illustration in Abel C. Thomas's Gospel of Slavery (New York: Published by T.W. Strong, 1864), n.p., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date
[1864]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1864 Thoma 50969.D vignette W, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2817
Illustration accompanies part five, "Domestic Amusements in the Slave States." Trailed by a pack of bloodhounds and several mounted authorities armed with rifles, a slave family tries to make their escape. To the right, on the bank of a river, two authorities aim their rifles at a drowning slave, who is approached by a group of white men in a boat., Illustration in the Suppressed Book about Slavery! (New York: Carleton, 1864), p. 336., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Fugitives.
Creator
Van Ingen & Snyder, engraver
Date
[1864]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1864 Suppr 15191.D p 336, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2813
Illustration accompanies part five, "Domestic Amusements in the Slave States." It shows a family of runaway slaves as they try to defend themselves from a pack of bloodhounds. Behind them, two slavehunters aim their rifes at father, mother, and child., Illustration in the Suppressed Book about Slavery! (New York: Carleton, 1864), p. 288., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Fugitives.
Creator
Van Ingen & Snyder, engraver
Date
[1864]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1864 Suppr 15191.D p 288, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2812
Set in a lush, tropical landscape on the island of St. Vincent, the image shows a "Negro festival." In the center of the scene, an attractive couple performs a dance to the music of a tamborine and a drum, played by the girl and boy to the left. Although the dancers are barefoot, they are both well-dressed: she wears a low-collared dress that sets off a beaded necklace, and he wears a wig. Next to them, a light-skinned (possibly mulatto) couple appear in similar costume. The man's gesture suggests that he is inviting his partner to dance. In the right foreground, a more humbly dressed woman bends over to lay plates holding grapes, berries, a pineapple, and other fruits on the ground. In the right background, other well-dressed women sit at a table and are waited on by a girl., Plate in Bryan Edward's The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies, Plates (London: Printed for John Stockdale, Piccadilly, M.DCC.XCIV [1794]), n.p., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Creator
Audinet, Philip, 1766-1837, engraver
Date
[Nov. 18, 1794]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1794 Edwar (2) 696.Q np, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2689
Portrait of Joanna, a Surinamese mulatto and former slave, mistress to Captain John G. Stedman, an Englishman and the author of "Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam.", Illustration in Lydia Childs's the Oasis (Boston: Benjamin C. Bacon: Tuttle and Weeks, printers, No. 8, School Street, 1834), p. 64., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Creator
Smith, George Girdler, 1795-1859, engraver
Date
[1834]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1834 Chi 70173.D.5 p 64, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2736
Image depicts a slaveowner who moves to whip three partially clothed slave figures, a husband, a wife, and their small child. The husband and wife cling to each other as their child stands to the right. In the background, another slaveowner raises his whip toward four slaves who march in a line in front of him., Illustration in Thomas Branagan's Penitential Tyrant (New York: Printed and sold by Samuel Wood, 1807), p. 267., Engraving attributed to Alexander Anderson., Images in this work derived from oral testimony given before the British Parliament's Select Committee Appointed to Take the Examination of Witnesses Respecting the African Slave Trade originally published as An Abstract of the Evidence Delivered Before a Select Committee of the House of Commons in the Years 1790 and 1791; on the part of the petitioners for the abolition of the slave-trade (London: printed by James Phillips, 1791). Images also issued in a number of other printed works including Remarks on the Methods of Procuring Slaves with a Short Account of Their Treatment in the West-Indies (London: printed by and for Darton and Harvey, no. 66 Gracechurch Street, MDCCXCIII [1793]); Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender auf das jahr 1797 (Baltimore: Samuel Saur, 1796); Injured Humanity: Being a Representation of What the Unhappy Children of Africa Endure from Those Who Call Themselves Christians... (New York: printed and sold by Samuel Wood, no. 362 Pearl Street, (between 1805 and 1808); and The Mirror of Misery, or, Tyranny Exposed (New York: printed and sold by Samuel Wood, 1807) and later editions issued in 1811 and 1814., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Creator
Anderson, Alexander, 1775-1870, engraver
Date
[1807]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1807 Bra 2721.D. p 267, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2710
Image shows Juliana, a young West Indian slave girl, being flogged by her mistress, Eleanor Whitehead, with a cat of six tails. Juliana is streched out on the floor, and her mistress, dressed in voluminous skirts and elaborate finery, looms over her threateningly., Illustration in the pamphlet Flogging of the Slave Girl Juliana, about Five or Six Years of Age, in Jamaica &c. (London: Sold at the Depository; and by Harvey & Darton; Houlston and Son; Edmund Fry; E. Albright, London; and other booksellers, 1830?). (Bagster and Thomas, printers)., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date
[1830?]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1830 Flo 67062.D p 1, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2730
A slaveowner stands to the left and watches as a partially clothed male slave flogs a naked male slave who lies face down on the ground. The arms and legs of the slave being flogged are fastened to pegs in the ground., Illustration in Thomas Branagan's Penitential Tyrant (New York: Printed and sold by Samuel Wood, 1807), p. 272., Engraving attributed to Alexander Anderson., Images in this work derived from oral testimony given before the British Parliament's Select Committee Appointed to Take the Examination of Witnesses Respecting the African Slave Trade originally published as An Abstract of the Evidence Delivered Before a Select Committee of the House of Commons in the Years 1790, and 1791; on the Part of the Petitioners for the Abolition of the Slave-Trade (London: printed by James Phillips, 1791). Images also issued in a number of other printed works including Remarks on Methods of Procuring Slaves with a Short Account Their Treatment in the West-Indies (London: printed by and for Darton and Harvey, no. 66 Gracechurch Street, MDCCXCIII [1793]); Sclaven-Handel (Philadelphia: Gedruckt fur Tobias Hirte, bey Samuel Saur, 1794); Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender auf das Jahr 1797 (Baltimore: Samuel Saur, 1796); Injured Humanity: Being a Representation of What the Unhappy Children of Africa Endure from Those Who Call Themselves Christians... (New York; printed and sold by Samuel Wood, no. 362, Pearl Street, between 1805 and 1808); and The Mirror of Misery, or Tyranny Exposed (New York: printed and sold by Samuel Wood, 1807) and later editions issued in 1811 and 1814., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Creator
Anderson, Alexander, 1775-1870, engraver
Date
[1807]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1807 Bra 2721.D p 272, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2714
Illustration is included in Chapter VI, "Domestic Slavery in Madagascar." According to Ellis, he often witnessed "some of the inevitable consequences of the system [i.e., domestic slavery] that were perhaps more revolting in their moral degradation than in the physical suffering inflicted." The girl on the right, for example, represented one such case. As Ellis wrote, "I saw one young girl who had a couple of boards fixed on her shoulders, each of them rather more than two feet long, and ten inches or a foot wide, fastened together by pieces of wood nailed on the under side. A piece had been cut out of each board in the middle, so that, when fixed together, they fitted close to her neck, and the poor girl, while wearing this instrument of punishment and disgrace, was working with the rest." (p. 147-48) The boy on the left represented another such case. Ellis recalled, "On another occasion I saw a boy, apparently about fifteen years of age, with a rough, heavy, iron collar on his naked neck. It seemed to be formed by a square bar of iron of about three quarter of an inch thick being bent round his neck, and the two ends then joined together. Yet he was working with a number of other boys and men employed in carrying fire-wood to the beach for shipping.", Illustration in William Ellis's Three Visits to Madagascar during the Years 1853 -- 1854 -- 1856 (London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1858), p. 148., As noted on the title page, the wood engravings are said to be after "photographs, etc.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
Date
[1858]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare U Afri Ellis 14699.O p 148, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2904
Illustration is included in Chapter XII, "Negro Matt, the Cooper -- Savage Bryson -- the Negro Overseer - An Agonizing but Unavailing Plea for Mercy -- A Slave-Whipping and a Tragedy." According to Livermore, the print shows the cooper, Matt, being whipped by a "gigantic" man as his master watches at the left. Other slaves look on in horror. Matt offense was accidentally burning his master in the blacksmith's shop. For this, Livermore explained, a "rope was roughly tied around his wrists, and thrown over a beam projecting from the roof of the shop, by which he was drawn up with jerks, until his toes barely touched the ground." The overseer, she noted, "stood by urging on the terrible flagellation, in the most brutal and fiendish manner conceivable." (p. 217), Illustration in Mary Ashton Rice Livermore's The Story of my Life, or, The Sunshine and Shadow of Seventy Years (Hartford: A.D. Worthington & Co., 1897), p. 214., Caption underneath the image reads: "The swish of a long whip flashed through the air. The lash sank with a cutting sound into Matt's quivering flesh. Shrieks of torture pierced the skies as blow after blow fell upon the body of the suffering man. I stood immovable, sick and faint, and heard and saw it all, paralyzed with horror and fear.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
Creator
Helmick, Howard, designer
Date
[1897]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1897 Liv 29518.O p 214, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2838
Illustration shows an "instrument of torture" used on Roper during his years of slavery. Of it, he wrote, this is a machine used for packing and pressing cotton. By it, he [i.e., the slave-owner Mr. Gooch] hung me up by the hands at letter a, a horse moving around the screw e, and carrying it up and down, and pressing the block c into the box d, into which the cotton is put. At this time, he hung me up for a quarter of an hour. I was carried up ten feet from the ground, when Mr. Gooch asked me, if I was tired. He then let me rest for five minutes, then carried me round again, after which he let me down and put me into the box, and shut me down in it for about ten minutes." (p. 52), Illustration in Moses Roper's A Narrative of the Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper, from American Slavery (London: Darton, Harvey, and Darton, 55, Gracechurch Street; and to be had of the author, at the Anti-Slavery Office, 18, Aldermanbury, Murrays, Mare Street, Hackney; Hudson, 18, Bull Street, Birmingham, MDCCCXXXVII [1837]), p. 51., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
Date
[1837]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1837 Roper 101478.D p 51, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2758
Two scenes show methods for punishing runaway slaves. As the caption suggests, the top image shows the way in which Portuguese colonizers punished captured fugitives: here, a slave-owner whips a slave who hangs by his neck from a tree limb. A form of punishment invented in Martinique is shown at the bottom left: a standing slave is forced to wear a collar around his neck and a shackle around his right ankle. The two are connected by a short chain that forces the slave to bend his right leg backward and support all of his weight on his left leg. Lastly, the bottom right illustrates one slave's punishment for having escaped: his leg was amputated above the knee., Plate in François Froger's Relation d'un voyage fait en 1695, 1696 & 1697: aux côtes d'Afrique, détroit de Magellan, Brezil, Cayenne & isles Antilles, par une escadre des vaisseaux du roy, commandée par M. de Gennes (A Paris: Imprimée par les soins & aux frais du sieur de Fer, geographe de Monseigneur le dauphin. Dans l'isle du Palais, sur le quay de l'Horloge, à la Sphere royale: Et chez G. Saugrain dans la grande salle du Palais, à la Croix d'or., M.DC.XCVIII. [1698]), p. 150., Caption accompanying the top scene reads: "Comme les Portugais fouettent leurs Esclaves lors quils ont deserté." The caption on the bottom left reads: "Invention d'un François de la Martinique;" the one on the right reads: "Esclave qui a la Jambe coupee pour avoir deserte.", Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Punishment Scenes.
Creator
Inselin, C., engraver
Date
[1698]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1698 Froge 578.D p 150, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2663
Featuring a model of a black man and a Spanish Chasseur in typical dress, the engraving helps shows how Spanish colonizers in St. Domingo trained blood-hounds to track and kill runaway slaves. As Rainsford explained, "With respect to the dogs their general mode of rearing was latterly in the following manner. From the time of their being taken from the dam, they were confined in a sort of kennel, or cage, where they were but sparingly fed upon small quantities of the blood of different animals. As they approached maturity, their keepers procured a figure roughly formed as a negro in wicker work, in the body of which were contained the blood and entails of beasts. This was exhibited before an upper part of the cage, and the food occasionally exposed as a temptation, which attracted the attention of the dogs to it as a source of the food they wanted. This was repeated often, so that the animals with rodoubled ferocity struggled against their confinement while in proportion to their impatience the figure was brought nearer, though yet out of their reach, and their food decreased, till at the last extremity of desperation, the keeper resigned the figure, well charged with the nauseous food before described, to their wishes. While they gorged themselves with the dreadful met, he and his colleagues caressed and encouraged them. By these means the whites ingratiated themselves so much with the animals, as to produce an effect directly opposite to that perceivable in them towards the black figure; . . . ." (p. 426-27)., Plate in Marcus Rainsford's Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti: comprehending a view of the principal transactions in the revolution of Saint Domingo; with its antient and modern state (London: Albion press printed: published by James Cundee, Ivy-Lane, Paternoster-Row; and sold by C. Chapple, Pall Mall, 1805), p. 422., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
Creator
Barlow, J., engraver
Date
1805
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1805 Rains 1416.Q p 422, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2708
Pro-Union cartoon containing a montage of vignettes representing the consequences of secession, particularly the denigration of American freedom. Depicts Roman soldiers representing the "Demons of Nullification, Secession, and Treason" attacking the "Temple of Freedom," the edifice adorned with the names of Revolutionary heroes and battles. The allegorical army carries a "Flag of Disunion" inscribed "Liberty! [To Extend Slavery]," swords, spears, and torches. These soldiers of "war" and "rapine" trample upon the torn Constitution and American flag. In the background, surrounding vignettes depict the bloodied, manacled "Genius of Liberty," depicted as a white woman, fallen beside "Free Speech" and the "Free Press"; the "Servile Insurrection" depicting enslaved Black men attacking white men, women, and children; the king "Military Despotism," depicted as a white man attired in a crown, brandishes manacles and bayonets to complete "the work begun by the traitors"; ghostly figures of "Departed Heroes & Sages," including Washington, Jefferson, and Adams look aghast "on the sacrilege perpetrated in the name of Liberty"; and Liberty, depicted as a white woman, weeps beside an upside down American flag and below the quote of the executed French revolutionary, Madame Roland, "O Liberty! What crimes are committed in thy name.", Text printed above image: "Indignantly frown upon every attempt to alien any portion of our country from the rest"--Washington., Text printed below image: The enemies of the Republic, from the Gulf, or Lower Regions, led on by the Demons of Nullification, Secession and Treason, assail the Temple of American Freedom, consecrated by the blood of the Martyrs of Liberty. Raising the Flag of Disunion, the Traitors trample on the Star-spangled Banner and the Constitution which they have sworn to defend. The Genius of Liberty is stricken down and manacled. War and Servile Insurrection prevail. Military Despotism, of necessity, succeeds, and with its chains and bayonets completes the work begun by the Traitors. The Genius of America weeps, while, above, the shades of departed Heroes and Statesmen gaze with sad astonishment on the sacrilege perpetrated in the name of Liberty! “God Save the Commonwealth.”, Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by John Barber, in the office of the Clerk of the District Court of Connecticut., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Accessioned 1981., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date
1861
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons-1861 Sec [P.8699]
View of a dilapidated building with a sign, "Auction & Negro Sales," on Whitehall Street in Atlanta. A man attired in a brimmed hat sits on a wooden chair with a rifle leaning beside him against the front of the building. Several cigar and cigarette manufactories and tobacco stores, including "F. Geutebruck Tobacco," line the dirt street., Title from item., Issued as #3608 in E. & H.T. Anthony Catalog "War of the Union" series., Original negative in the collections of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Civil War views. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitization funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Date
[ca. 1861]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unidentified - Non-Philadelphia-Georgia [5779.F.8h]
Abolition society certificate depicting a white, Federal-era man pointing toward a chained, kneeling enslaved man who declares, "Am I not a Man and brother!" In the left, the enslaved man, attired in a white loincloth and with chains binding his hands to his feet, kneels down on his right knee upon a marble pedestal and clasps his hands together. In the right, the white man, attired in a white cravat, a waistcoat, a jacket, breeches, and black shoes, stands and holds in his left hand a Bible opened to Isaiah 61:1 atop the marble altar, which is inscribed with the verse: "He came to proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Heavenly beams shine down upon them through an opening in the clouds. The New Jersey abolition society was established in 1793., Unused certificate., Title from item., Illustration of a kneeling male slave on the certificate is a variant of the image popularized by Josiah Wedgwood. Formed in 1787, the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade designed and adopted as its seal the image of a kneeling African male slave asking, "Am I not a man and a brother?" That same year, Wedgwood, a ceramics manufacturer and member of the Committee, issued the image as a medallion, which was distributed in America. The image became a popular anti-slavery icon and was soon widely reproduced on artifacts and in print in the United States and in Britain. During the 1820s, a female counterpart with the motto, "Am I not a woman and a sister?" was created by British abolitionists and quickly embraced in the United States, particularly among women abolitionists., Accessioned 1968., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date
[ca. 1800]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC-Certificates [7762.F]
The valentine depicts a well-dressed white man gesturing to a seated African American man whose head, feet, and buttocks are disproportionately large. The "burs" suggest the seated man does field work, and his trousers are ragged., Text: O, massa Abolitionist! you're mighty fond of jokes, / And play em on de darkey as well as on white folks / But all your mighty promises dey neber come to pass, / And every we take your chair de burs stick in / our ---- trouserloons., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.